come when she liked. She accordingly watched an opportunity,
when she had ascertained that he was at home, and
called upon him one evening at eight o’clock. She then
requested to speak to him privately, and he conducted her
into his own apartment, when she entreated him to assist
in obtaining her lord’s release from confinement. A little
after, the family heard her calling out “ rape” and “ murder.”
When they came to her assistance, she complained
of having been ravished by the Secretary, when she had
come to ask for the deliverance o f her lord. She then
rushed out into the street, crying out in the same manner,
and. showing every one a lock o f the Secretary’s hair which
she had cut off. In the morning she went to his E x c e llency
the Governor, lamenting her fate, throwing the lock
of hair down before him, and calling for justice. Knowing
that the crime o f adultery is punished by the laws with
death, the Governor examined the matter, found it was a
plot laid by her and her husband to ruin the Secretary,
and ordered her to be punished with a hundred blows.
This young woman was not above twenty years of age.
December 1.— The Mission received accounts of a famine
having taken place in the northern part o f the kingdom,
which occasioned the death o f many of the poor: it
was caused by an unusual inundation o f the sea, which had
destroyed the greater part of the crops in some districts.
A few days ago, a person was beheaded for flogging his
wife, who had died after the punishment, although it was
supposed not in consequence thereof.
The Government was at this time employed in strengthening
the ramparts o f the fort o f Yadentain# with hewn
stones brought from the hills near old Dongnai. A thousand
soldiers were occupied on this work day and night.
Dec. 19.— On the 18th, two junks departed for Singa-
* The Fortress of Saigun.—(C.)
pore, and another to-day, by which the Mission addressed
a petition to his Majesty the King o f Ava, reporting the
progress of the Mission.
The brother of the deceased Commander o f Artillery
had gone to Athien, on the Gulf of Siam, to bring the remains
of his brother’s wife from some village in that neighbourhood.
He returned, bringing two coffins instead of
one, and these, with the body o f the deceased Commander
o f Artillery, were now buried together.
Dec. 2 8 .— This was the birth-day o f the King’s mother,
and the town was in consequence illuminated for three
nights. An express arrived from the Government, calling
Monsieur Diard, the French physician, to Court.
January 3, 1 8 2 4 .—Four junks arrived from China,
bringing one thousand three hundred passengers. These
pay six dollars each for their passage. After their arrival,
they settle and spread themselves in various parts o f the
country, going as far as the town o f Kamboja.
Jan. 6.—The Mission received one hundred and seventy
two quans, and rice from Government for their monthly
expenses. W e were informed o f a certain medicinal wood,
called by the missionaries A k ila ,* the best o f which is
found in the province o f Quinhon, and tried its effects
upon two o f our attendants ill with fluxes : they were both
effectually cured in a short time. The Cochin Chinese informed
us they used the same remedy in cholera morbus.
About this time we observed the soldiers exercised, in rowing
: this was on shore, in a place made for the express
purpose.
Jan. 1 6 .— Another junk arrived from China with four
hundred passengers. These Chinese emigrants are settled
throughout the country, aloug the borders o f the rive rs:
their whole baggage, when they arrive, consists o f a coarse
* Agila, or eagle-wood.—(C.)